5 Bold Predictions for Notre Dame 2011.

Finally some time to squeeze in a brief post over this lovely holiday week! A couple of cool things have happened since my last post:

The Canucks bounced back to beat Columbus, Edmonton, and Philly after their OT loss to Detroit...and they did it by a combined score of 16-7.

The Rams busted the 49'ers, leading to SF's defensive minded coach being fired, and setting up the winner take all NFC West Championship game against the USC Seahawks on Sunday.

The Celtics just keep on rolling, as they bounced back from the Christmas Day loss to the Magic with another win over the Pacers. 24-5 compared to the Clippers 10-22.

Well, in order to get people to read the blog, you have to put some bold predictions up. Brandon has been doing it throughout the Bowl Season during his annual blog binge. I tried to do it with the image I created above, suggesting that there may be a shot that Tommy Rees could be the Sun Bowl MVP, but probably not. And now, I've decided to bring you 5 bold predictions for Notre Dame for 2011 (and 12/31/10). None of these will probably come true, but hopefully you'll forget that I wrote this post by the time I've proven wrong.

ESPN's Accuscore Projections selects Miami as the favorite in the Sun Bowl by 60%. Las Vegas has the Hurricanes as 3 point favorites. I just don't understand this at all. The Fighting Irish may have finished the season 7-5 and faced horrible situations left and right, but to me, they are clearly better than Miami at this point. Despite losing their starting QB, NFL read TE, and studly RB, the Irish ripped off their last three wins, and they weren't really against chumps. Notre Dame busted #14 Utah, Army, and USC. Meanwhile, Miami has fired their head coach after their 7-5 season (5-3 in the ACC), and are coming off of two losses. They dropped one to #16 Va Tech and then lost on the way out to South Florida. Why does everyone think the Irish are going to lose this game?

Bold Prediction #1: Notre Dame will beat Miami by at least 14 points in the Sun Bowl.

I don't think anyone will agree with me, but I think we have a legitimate QB controversy at Notre Dame in 2011. Yes, I will agree that Dayne Crist was pretty good before he got hurt against Tulsa. He finished with 2,000+ passing yards, 15 TDs, 7 INTs, and a 59.2 COMP%. Tommy Rees, meanwhile, threw for 900+ yards, 10 TDs, 8 INTs, and a 63 COMP% in pretty much 3 games (all wins). Now, I think everyone out there is going to say that Crist easily gets the job in 2011, but I just don't see it that way. I think Saint Thomas is the guy. How can you pass up a guy who beat a #14 team and then busted USC for the first time in a billion years? Doesn't that earn him the job right away (plus, he's a native of Lake Forest...Illinois)? I know Dayne will be a Senior, and I know that putting him at the 2 spot would crush his NFL dreams, but I just don't know.

Bold Prediction #2: Tommy Rees will be the 2011 starting QB for the Irish.

Much has been said about who will be staying and who will be leaving next year, and I'm really hoping that the studs we all love will stick around for the next go around. With 916 yards and 10 TDs, Michael Floyd has impressed everyone yet again, and the Saint Paul native has raised the thought of going to the NFL next season because of his size, speed, and talents (see memories of Golden Tate). The 21 year old was out of the Navy game with an injury, and played through some of the other matches with nagging problems. He had 5 or less catches in 5 games, and only grabbed the ball 4 times (for 39 yards) in the Utah "upset", 3 times in the huge Yankees Stadium Army game. I have always been a bad predictor of when a guy might leave early, but I really think he still has something to prove at the college level before heading into the draft. I'd have to think the same thing for Kyle Rudolph The Red Nosed Tight End.

Bold Prediction #3: Floyd and Rudolph will return for the Senior years.

As you know, I usually do a full season preview for Notre Dame shortly after the season completely ends (some time in January), but I think it's worth it to look the schedule over right now. We face Southern Florida, Michigan, MSU, Pitt, Purdue, Air Force, USC, Navy, Wake Forest, Maryland, Boston College, and Stanford in that order next season. If Floyd and Rudolph return, you can add that to the small steps forward by Brian Kelly this season to make a solid season next year. Surely we'll go better than 7-5, and may even closer to my last year prediction of 9-3. Do we have what it takes to get a BCS bid in 2011?

Bold Prediction #4: Notre Dame will go 9-3 in 2011. I know that I said the same thing before the 2010 season, but I'm seeing 9-3 again. I'm giving losses to Stanford, either Michigan or Michigan State, and one more just to be more down the middle (I figured 10-2 was a little homer-ish).

Time for a mega-bold prediction! Notre Dame's last Heisman hopeful was Brady Quinn. He, at least, got a trip to New York for the award ceremony. I'm going to go on record that one of the Irish players in 2011 will be in the top 5 in Heisman voting, and I'm hoping that everyone will say I'm crazy when I say who I think it will be.

Bold Prediction #5: Manti Te'o will be top 5 in Heisman voting for 2011.

So, there you have my 5 bold predictions for Notre Dame. Feel free to talk junk in the comments.

Huge love to Brandon for all of his Bowl posts.

Huge hatred to me for being too lazy to proofread.

Enjoy the Sun Bowl, muppets.